The Friday Poem

A poem every Friday

Book Reviews

A black and white beetle seen from above on white textured paper.

The dull click-clink of gold against formica

Isabelle Thompson reviews I Think We’re Alone Now by Abigail Parry (Bloodaxe Books, 2023)
Illustration of a 1950's style woman getting ready to stab a python with a dagger. I know right! Pretty racey for poetry (It's even got a yellow background!). I'll take it over an abstract thought doodle though.

Are Poetry Reviews Pointless?

Helena Nelson plays with Shapeshifting for Beginners by Emma Simon (Salt, 2023)
A blue background with some gold solid circles and some gold circle outlines. They look a little like planets.

Across the empty field

Victoria Moul reviews The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse edited by Kaveh Akbar (Penguin, 2023)
Section from the book cover. An abstract image that could be a sun and yellow sand, but ... you know.

Form it from loosestrife, form it remorselessly

Stephen Payne reviews Rope of Sand by Fiona Larkin (Pindrop Press, 2023)
A photograph of a small house, painted half blue and half yellow. The porch is red.

If Tarring Neville was not a village but a procedure

Matthew Paul reviews Instead of an Alibi by Geoff Hattersley (Broken Sleep Books, 2023)
Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, dressed in yellow, striding forward into the projected fantasy of her come-back

I have never walked a blistering dust road out from San Antonio

D.A.Prince reviews Hollywood or Home by Kathryn Gray (Seren, 2023)
Photo showing a jumble of children's plastic dolls in a state of disrepair.

Curiosities for the curious

Clare Best reviews Wunderkammer by Helen Ivory (MadHat Press, 2023)
I think it's wool. Mostly blue but with th occasional red splurge. Oh, and there are some, drops of water that look frozen.

Alley Sally, Flash Face, Do-No-Day

Jane Routh reviews Material Properties by Jacob Polley (Picador, 2023)
Close up photo of a white sheeps head. We can mostly see the eye.

Tiny shorts the colour of meringues

Annie Fisher reviews Women in Comfortable Shoes by Selima Hill (Bloodaxe Books, 2023)
A book cover showing what looks like two purple tinted, torn paper images of a woman's face . One shows two eyes and a bit of nose, the other shows one eye , half a nose and a mouth.

‘What is the language using us for?’

Helena Nelson reviews Isdal by Susannah Dickey (Picador, 2023)
Some black and white text (part of the book title) on a red background. For extra 'artistic design' points the text lines are slanted diagonally.

Duster Bennett live at Frank Freeman’s

Matthew Paul reviews New and Selected Poems by Cliff Yates (Smith|Doorstop, 2023)
Photograph a woman standing in sand with a coat on. She has left footprints.

Our small Homeric lives

Steven Lovatt reviews Dead Letters by Carole Coates (Shoestring, 2023)